Real Madrid and Spain striker Alvaro Morata has taken a short break from his honeymoon in an effort to speed up a prospective move to Manchester United.

Morata has spent the past week in Ibiza following his wedding to Italian model Alice Campello, in Venice 11 days ago.

The 24-year-old had hoped a deal would be well down the road to completion by now, but with Real holding out for at least £75 million after rebuffing an offer of around £65 million from United, negotiations threaten to drag on.

That has prompted Morata to take the extraordinary step of briefly leaving his new wife to travel back to the Spanish capital in an effort to persuade Real not to create a protracted process and to grant him his wish of joining United before resuming his honeymoon.

Morata has spoken to Jose Mourinho and indicated his eagerness to move to Old Trafford, despite interest from Chelsea.

Everton striker Romelu Lukaku had been Mourinho's first choice to replace injured target man Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but with Chelsea leading the race for the Belgian and United put off by his £100 million valuation, Mourinho is confident Morata has the physicality and prowess to lead the line for United.

Mourinho and Morata want the deal done in time for the player to join his prospective new team-mates on the flight to Los Angeles for the start of the club's pre-season tour of the US on July 9.